I'll admit it. I've transformed into a home-pregnancy-testing fiend. I bought a box of highly-sensitive tests in bulk, and although my pregnancy has been confirmed, I plan on using every one of those tests. Call me crazy (you won't be wrong), but I'm testing now for the sheer joy of seeing a positive. My heart just bursts with happiness each time I test and see a line appear - and get darker and darker each day. Maybe the home pregnancy test manufacturers aren't sadists after all, as I once believed. I didn't think anyone could ever possibly get a test line as dark as the control line, and yet there mine is in all its dark magenta magnificence, just eight days post transfer.
I called Nurse Ginger to discuss some strange symptoms I'm having with the progesterone suppositories and to confirm my hCG (pregnancy hormone) blood test scheduled for tomorrow. She praised me for having the strength to wait to test until tomorrow (she had firmly warned me not to drive myself nuts testing too early) and assured me she would contact me as soon as she had my lab results. I ecstatically (and unashamedly) confessed that I had been testing the past week (after all, I had explicitly and politely told her she was out of her mind to think I wouldn't test) and that I had gotten a positive result 4dpo (days post transfer). She seemed a little surprised (and miffed, of course), but congratulated me all the same, and reminded me that the ultimate confirmation would be the blood test.
I'm not worried at all about the blood test being negative. I am concerned, however, about what my hCG level will be. Any hCG level above 25mIU/ml is considered positive for pregnancy. I've heard that anything above 90 mIU/ml is a really good first number. Studies show that a high initial hCG level that doubles every 48 to 72 hours is strongly indicative of a viable pregnancy. My highly-sensitive home pregnancy tests detect hCG at 10mIU/ml. I know my level must be a little more than this since the test line has been getting darker and darker.
I wonder all night about getting a positive so early after transfer and if it could possibly mean higher levels of hCG - and that both embryos implanted...
I called Nurse Ginger to discuss some strange symptoms I'm having with the progesterone suppositories and to confirm my hCG (pregnancy hormone) blood test scheduled for tomorrow. She praised me for having the strength to wait to test until tomorrow (she had firmly warned me not to drive myself nuts testing too early) and assured me she would contact me as soon as she had my lab results. I ecstatically (and unashamedly) confessed that I had been testing the past week (after all, I had explicitly and politely told her she was out of her mind to think I wouldn't test) and that I had gotten a positive result 4dpo (days post transfer). She seemed a little surprised (and miffed, of course), but congratulated me all the same, and reminded me that the ultimate confirmation would be the blood test.
I'm not worried at all about the blood test being negative. I am concerned, however, about what my hCG level will be. Any hCG level above 25mIU/ml is considered positive for pregnancy. I've heard that anything above 90 mIU/ml is a really good first number. Studies show that a high initial hCG level that doubles every 48 to 72 hours is strongly indicative of a viable pregnancy. My highly-sensitive home pregnancy tests detect hCG at 10mIU/ml. I know my level must be a little more than this since the test line has been getting darker and darker.
I wonder all night about getting a positive so early after transfer and if it could possibly mean higher levels of hCG - and that both embryos implanted...